Wednesday, January 04, 2006

My Personal List Of Favorite Soccer Happenings In The Year 2005

In no order particular at all:

USA 2-0 Mexico. I was in attendance at Crew Stadium in Columbus Ohio when the USA thumped Mexico to qualify for the 06 World Cup. What a party. 3 crazed days of singing, drinking, eating, story telling, and meeting some very cool people who came from coast to coast. Our boys played a great game. And it's just fantastic to beat the cry-babies from south of the border. My favorite part was defender Oguchi Onyewu dominating Mexico's star striker Jared Borgetti for 90 plus minutes. That glare he gave Borgetti will live in my mind for many years to come.

Los Angeles Galaxy Wins The Double. US Open Cup & MLS Cup in the same year. But I still hate the coach Steve Sampson and would like to see him fired immediately. As much as I like this team, I really don't like many of their players all that much.

Peter Wilt Fired. The idiots at AEG who own Chicago had the Pres & GM Peter Wilt fired. He is the single most beloved administrator in soccer in this whole country. Seriously, what a cool guy. His next move was to go directly to his home town of Milwaukee and put together a financial crew to start his own new squad in the Beer City. I can't wait to go down to Chicago next summer though, and see that great new stadium that Peter is responsible for getting built. He is a one of a kind. And he responds to my emails. Amazing.

MLS Expansion. Both new clubs, Real Salt Lake & Chivas USA, stink! I mean, stink real bad! They come very close to being the worst of all time in the league. And Real has a moronic name. MORONIC! At least the two teams had fans who got fired up.

World Cup Group Stage Draw. Group E: Italy, Czech Republic, Ghana, USA. This should be great. I can't wait for it to start. And if my guys happen to get out of that group finishing 2nd, their reward will be a date with Brazil in the knock out stage. Hahahahahaha. Go you Yank Bastards Go!

My Beloved Minnesota Thunder. Yet another incredibly newsworthy year: They got new owners who also own an indoor soccer facility and soccer retail stores. The team did not have a good year in the First Division though, finishing in 10th place (outta 12 teams). But the season was not a loss on the field as they made a near historic run in the US Open Cup competition, by getting to the semifinals (losing 5-2 in LA). They beat PDL team Chicago Fire Premier in round 1. Won a wild one 6-4 over MLS side Salt Lake in round 2. And pulverized MLSers Colorado 4-1 in round 3. (By beating both Colo & Salt Lake the team also managed to lay claim to the first ever Rocky Mountain Cup.) Us fans then packed into a bus and headed to Kansas City for round 4. We expected to have fun, but not to win. Hell, KC were the Cup holders and sat 7-0-1 in their previous 8 matches. But wouldn't ya know it, the underdog prevailed again! 3-1 this time. Glorious, until it ended. That's when the idiots started fighting. And I jumped in to break it up, only to get maced by the fuckin pigs for my efforts. I am not kidding you when I say that I stopped this fight from becoming a real deal. And I got a face full of that hideous pepper spray shit that cops love to use. Protect and Serve my ass. They Protected themselves and Served me a can of whoop-ass. Can you tell that 6 months later I am still mad as a hornet? Oh well, still a classic Open Cup run for the second year in a row. The season ended on a sad note however as the only coach the Thunder have ever known, Buzz Lagos, retired after all 16 years at the helm of the club. Former star player, team hall of famer, and current assistant coach Amos Magee was hired as new head man. Good luck Amo! The team also announced plans to launch a women's team in 06.

Liverpool Wins The Champions League (somehow). That completely insane comeback victory still has me shaking my head in disbelief. What is wrong with Milan? Their 3 first half goals were as dominating as any performance I have seen in years. It was total. Several Liverpool fans left the pub I was watching from. I guess they thought it was over just like Ancelloti and his players did. It was amazing to watch them come back. Even the roar of approval from fellow viewers in the pub was quite exciting. The best part though was the weird shit Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek was doing in his goal trying to distract the Milano's during the PK's. He conjured up some sorta retarded snake dance thingy and blew all our minds. Brilliant!

Ronaldinho. What can you say? He is simply the best. Watching him perform makes he so happy. The smile. The skills. The pure joy. And the winning. Even my dad likes the thumb and pinky finger wiggle that The Gaucho does. The best player in the world by far. I even considered (more than once) making a purchase of a Barca shirt. But I didn't.

Eddie Johnson. He scored tons of goals for the USA in 04 earning a big new contract in 05 then breaks his foot and does little or nothing for his club FC Dallas. He also calls himself a Grown Ass Man. Let's hope 06 proves he is the GAM.

Alexis Lalas. The red head bails as President of San Jose to take over the Metrostars from the series of flunkies who have done nothing with the team in 10 years. Lalas caps the year by firing coach Bob Bradley and hiring Mo Johnston. Can Lalas do something to make this crappy franchise win now?

San Jose Moves To Houston. The owners, AEG, give up hope of ever building a stadium in that town and move the team to Houston. This after an undefeated home season & record setting points total in 05, not to mention league Cup titles in 01 & 03. A pretty sad situation for the Bay Area, but huge for Houstonians.

And lastly, Pizza Hut Park. The new stadium opens in the suburbs as FC Dallas's new home. I was there for the MLS Cup final. It’s a nice place. Nothing special though. Plus the fact that its in Texas with no roof to shade the people sitting in the stands from that sun is gonna get downright brutal every summer. If I ever move to Dallas I am going to get season tickets in the Meat Lovers section.

2 Comments:

Dudek's wiggle: The force of history. Compare it to Bruce Grobbelaar's spaghetti-legged dance during the penalty shootout at the end of the 1984 final. While they waited for the shootout to begin in Istanbul, Jamie Carragher collared Dudek and for several minutes just raved in his face, gesticulating wildly all the time: "Remember Grobbelaar in 1984! Just do everything you can to put them off!". Jerzy's just "OK, OK, just let me focus now". Finally Harry Kewell had to come over and rescue him from the mad scouser so he could get his head together.